Cellular reprogramming is a phenomenon where mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Do cells individual cells differ in their ability to reprogram? We address this using cellular barcoding based lineage tracing, and demonstrate that reprogramming dynamics in large "interacting" populations are dominated by “elite” clones [1]. This work highlights the importance of cellular interactions and/or epigenetic heterogeneity in fate programming outcomes. In contrast, tissue regeneration in animals exhibit neutral dynamics between the underlying population of stem cells [2]. Taken together, we show that looking at cell fate transition from the lens of eco-evolutionary lens shed light on underlying biology.